Women's Tennis | 5/22/2019 1:50:00 PM

Box Score ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (May 22, 2019) – The Queens College women's tennis team fought all the way to the bitter end on Wednesday (May 22) before bowing out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 16 as No. 12 North Georgia claimed a 4-0 victory over the Knights at Sanlando Park.
Queens finishes the season with a 14-4 overall record and was the eleventh-ranked team in the NCAA Tournament; sixth-seeded North Georgia (22-5) will now move on to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history to face third-seed and undefeated Lynn (25-0) in the next round.
Doubles play began with the Knights attempting to settle down in the conditions against an opponent all too familiar with playing in weather such as Wednesday's sweltering afternoon in the Florida sun. Louisa Brunetti and Anica Knezevic had a difficult time against the Nighthawks' tandem of Emma Etelalahti and Cibeles Zuddy, with UNG coming away on top by a 6-1 score at the second spot. The same score and fate befell Marisa Ostoja and Laura Ortega Jover, as Lexa Loden and Adrienne Bofinger's 6-1 win at third-doubles put the Nighthawks ahead of the Knights by a 1-0 score going into singles play.
In singles action, the Knights began to battle back and settle in but North Georgia had already taken flight. Bofinger's 6-1, 6-1 win against Reehan Rashad at the top-spot put the Nighthawks ahead by a 2-0 margin. Brunetti's fourth-singles match with Zuddy did not go as planned, with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat putting North Georgia one win away from the next round. That victory came mere moments later as Holly Bennett sealed a 7-5, 6-3 win over Ostoja at third-singles to cement the match in favor of the Nighthawks.
The three other singles matches were also gritty contests that were favoring Queens. Luisa Auffarth swept the first set (6-0) against Vaishali Jorge at second-singles, but fell in the second set by a 6-4 margin. Jorge was leading the third set by a 3-2 score at the conclusion of the match. Meanwhile, Ortega Jover went to a first-set tiebreak with Claudelle Labonte before losing a 7-6 (7-1) match-up. The senior from Spain was up 2-1 in the second set when the match ended; at sixth-singles, Ruth Artaza Martin was on a comeback trail after dropping the first set to Loden by a 6-2 margin but Loden was leading a 6-5 second set as the match finished.